bubble dreams
by swirling-summernotes
Summary: Who said dreams were contained in sugar-filled bubbles? -LilyLorcan


**a/n: **Dedicated to PrincessPearl (Pearl).

Thanks to Pearl for the quote :_ 'If you're quite done talking about me like I'm not here', _the prompts: sugar, destiny, galaxy and the song: 'Better than Revenge' by Taylor Swift (which I don't own). I only managed to use the quote, and two of the prompts. Pearl, this is for you! Love you!

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling.

* * *

She's always been sort of jealous of her. Lily _knows_ jealousy is wrong, especially when it comes to her _cousin_, but no matter how many times she's said that to herself, it just won't go away.

Lucy has these _prettypretty_ blonde curls, and huge blue eyes that soak up everything around her. She's laughter and smiles and bubble-dreams and everything Lily's _not. _

So sometimes, it's hard.

Of course, she's never actually told anyone this. She keeps it all wrapped up underneath her, and most of the time, it works. Except when she looks in the mirror and sees her straight, dark red hair and wishes it was a little lighter, or a little curlier.

And then she wishes she was a little more of a dreamer. More like Lucy, who has faith in a different world called Narnia, one where magic truly exists. That part confuses Lily, because magic does exist. She's a witch, after all.

Lucy explains that this is a different kind of magic, an emotional magic. But it just doesn't make sense to Lily.

There are other times when she just wants to understand Lucy, because honestly, this is _real life, _not some fantasy-world. There's pain and sorrow, and God-forbid, heartache. She just wishes Lucy would see that, sometimes, and not be so stuck in her perfect fairy-tale world. After a few hours, though, she goes back to being (sort of) jealous, because she wishes she could believe in this non-existent world, and have faith that everything will be okay, like Lucy.

She wishes.

But facts never lie.

And the real world is all about facts.

* * *

"What're you doing?" Lily asks, walking out into the yard. The stars are out, and they're twinkling high above her.

"Looking at the stars," Lucy says, turning towards her, a smile playing on her lips. "Come join me."

Lily lowers herself down onto the grass, and copies Lucy's position. She gazes up at the inky sky, looking majestic and royal up above her, and adjusts her wine-red hair around her shoulders.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lucy asks in wonder. " I mean, it's like a whole other world up there, in the clouds. And if you just take the time to look up every once in awhile, you'll see that maybe life was supposed to be that simple, and not so complicated as everyone makes it seem. It puts our world into perspective. There's another _galaxy _out there."

Lily thinks about those words, and looks up at the sky again. She tries to study it like Lucy, but all she sees are a bunch of glittering stars. Yeah, it's pretty, but in the end, it's not a different world.

If she were to fly up there on her broomstick, she'd still have to take end of the year exams. It's all the same world. It really doesn't make a difference.

"How do you see all that, Luce?" Lily asks, curious.

"See what?"

"Yknow, think all those thoughts. I mean, maybe life isn't supposed to be so over-analyzed."

Lucy laughs. "I'm not over-analyzing, Lils. I'm just thinking."

Lily tries to think like that, but all that comes up is, maybe life isn't _sugar-coated dreams filled with hope and love and pixie-dust._

What if those don't really exist, like Lucy likes to think?

She turns her head towards her cousin again, and wishes she could take her _bluelikethesea _eyeballs and replace them with her own hazel ones, just to be able to see life through the eyes of Lucy Weasley.

But, it still wouldn't make a difference.

* * *

"Lil! You ready?" Lorcan calls up the stairs leading to the girls dormitories. Lily adjusts her silver and green scarf one more time in the mirror.

"I'm coming!" She bounds down the stairs, landing almost smack into Lorcan. She laughs, and pulls away. "Sorry.'

He gives her a smile that melts her heart like butter. "No problem. Shall we go, Miss. Potter?"

"We shall, Mr. Scamander."

The two of them make their way outside and down the path to Hogesmeade, Lily trying to ignore the funny butterflies that flew into her stomach the minute she caught sight of her best friend.

The cold whips her hair, and snow adorns the ground. Lily picks up a handful and chucks it at Lorcan. He turns to her, surprised, spitting snow out of his mouth. Lily's laughing at his dumbfounded expression, but before she can call him out on it, snow connects with her face and the right side of it goes numb.

Lily starts cracking up, and pretty soon he joins her. "Hold on a sec-" he takes another handful and rubs it on her face.

"Lorcan!" Lily cries, wiping the white from her face. She gathers it in her hand and throws it at his arm.

They're brushing the snow off themselves when they hear something in the wind.

"Lorcan! Lily!" They both turn at the sound of their names, to find an excited Lucy running towards them. Her blonde curls were bouncing around her face, and her cheeks were bright red from the cold, making her eyes stand out. Absently, Lily touches her own hair.

"Lucy!" Lorcan sweeps her up in a bear hug. "You badgers stay way to far away from the us snakes."

Lucy giggles. "No, we don't"

Lily watches the two of them, the way Lucy's blue eyes dance around, and how Lorcan just _can't seem _to wipe the grin the size of Alaska off his face. She's drowning in a sea of green, and there's nothing to pull her up.

The three of them begin walking again, Lucy and Lorcan talking and laughing, Lily staying mostly quiet. She wishes Hugo were here, because as her cousin and other best friend, he _alwaysalwaysalways _knows exactly what to say. He'd put an arm over her shoulders, and not even bother to ask her what was wrong, because that part wouldn't matter to him.

Lily tries to focus herself on the conversation, but it feels fake and hollow. Lucy's dragging the two of them into Honeyduke's and Lily quietly tags behind.

She hates this, absolutely hates this. Her family always says she has a zest for life, whatever that means. Her father tells her she's been given an overload of spunk, but when she's with Lucy, that all disappears. And when she's with Lorcan, which doesn't help matters at all.

Lily walks up to the counter greets Stella, her cousin Louis' girlfriend. The two of them graduated from Hogwarts last year, and Stella worked part-time at Honeydukes to help pay for her secondary Wizarding schooling.

"Hey, Lily!" Stella says. "How are you?" Because Stella's three years older than her, Lily likes to think of her as a big sister.

"I'm good, how are you?" They make small talk for awhile, until Lucy waves her over, indicating that they're going to leave soon.

'Here," Stella says, handing her a Chocolate Frog. She cocks her head to the side. "Y'know, Lily, you're really getting beautiful."

Lily grins, the compliment swelling inside her. "Thanks, Stell." She turns around with her frog in hand, and finds Lucy and Lorcan standing there, waiting for her. They push their way to the door, and step out into the winter cold.

"She's right."

Lorcan's voice takes her by surprise, his warm breath tickling her ear. She raises eyebrows, and quickly looks up at him, but he's already looking straight ahead again, as if nothing ever happened.

All in all, it really wasn't that bad of a day.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Lucy and Lorcan spend more time with each other than ever before. They study together in their common rooms, and Lucy frequently comes over to the Slytherin table for chats during mealtime.

It leaves Lily more confused than ever.

It's not that she doesn't love her cousin, because she does. But with Lorcan's comment last month, and now his interest in Lucy, it all just doesn't make sense. And since she can't be mad at _him _(even if she kinda is) she's more mad at Lucy, the girl with a thousand bubble-dreams in her pocket.

The girl who snags the attention of everyone she comes on contact with.

One Saturday morning at breakfast is no different. Lucy comes to their table, blonde curls piled on top of her head in a ponytail, and a blue sweater that brings out her eyes.

"Good morning," she greets, sliding onto the bench beside Lily.

"Hey, Luce," she says, making room for her cousin.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Lorcan asks, jumping into the girls' conversation.

Lucy twirls her ponytail around her finger. "Well, I was thinking about going for a walk around the Black Lake."

"Yeah, that would be great," Lorcan says enthusiastically. "It such a perfect day, too, we can even bring out broomsticks and fly a couple of laps."

The thought of the two of them going for a walk around the Black Lake nauseates her, and Lily knows she doesn't want to witness it."Y'know, I think I have some Potions homework to be working on," Lily says shortly.

Lucy raises her eyebrows and turns to Lorcan. "Do you know what is with her these days?"

Lorcan shakes his head. "Nah, she's been acting a little down for a few weeks now."

"If you're _quite_ done talking about me as though I'm not here," Lily says. She scoops up her pumpkin juice and walks out of the Great Hall, thinking she can no longer stomach the two of them together.

She spends the rest of the afternoon wondering what the two of them are doing, if they're walking around the Lake or…

Honestly, she doesn't want to finish that thought. The worst thing that could happen is the two of them will walk in here holding hands, she thinks.

Lily spends the afternoon aimlessly walking around the castle, since there really was no Potions homework to finish.

The stars have come out and the two of them still aren't around. With nothing to do, Lily walks up to the stairs to the Astronomy tower. The sky looms above her, and Lily thinks she can just make out Lucy and Lorcan from her place on the balcony.

She gazes up at the stars and pretends she's like Lucy for a minute. All these dreams within her, believing and making wishes upon stars. She clasps her hand on the railing, hoping that maybe Lorcan will come up and find her, and everything will be all right. It'll be a _princeandprincess _kind of moment, the ones that Lucy believes in, and maybe it'll be enough to convince Lily, too. She'll feel the shimmer around her, and the stars smiling down upon them.

She waits.

After ten minutes, she realizes it's hopeless. She's posing like a princess for nothing, because no one's showing up. And quite honestly, she's tired of gazing at the stars. The sky looms above her, and Lily thinks she can just make out Lucy and Lorcan from her place on the balcony, laughing and holding hands. Her stomach drops to her feet, and she runs.

So, with her one try at bubble-dreams shattered, she goes down to the common room and retrieves her broomstick. Forcing the dormitory window open, she hops up onto the ledge and mounts her broom. She flies towards Quidditch pitch, the cold spring wind whipping her face. It's dark, but she likes it that way.

Leaning forward on her broomstick, she urges it faster. She's not too sure what she's running from, but she moves quickly anyways. Soaring over the Black Lake, she looks around for Lucy and Lorcan. Figuring they probably went back to the castle, she moves onward.

Lily approaches the pitch, only to find someone there, flying laps. Going closer, she realizes it's Lysander.

"Hey," he calls, flying closer. He looks just like Lorcan, with different eyes, and she doesn't understand why her stomach doesn't flop over when he looks at her.

"Hello," she says, happy that he's here. She'll have company, and she's always been good friends with him. "I didn't know you liked to fly."

They're resting midair, and Lily drops her hand from the stick. He shrugs. "Every once in a while, I guess."

"Well, then, I guess we should start playing. You play Keeper?" Her tone is playful, and she's excited for the night.

"Sure do. You know the password for the Quidditch supplies?"

"Having Albus as Captain has its advantages," she says, smiling.

Pretty soon they're flying around in the night, Lily taking shots on Lysander. He's a good Keeper, and she gets a great practice out of the night. He's really nice, and she loves him as a friend or brother, but he's not Lorcan. However, they have a lot of fun, and Lily doesn't want the night to end.

"All right, five more," she shouts to Lysander after two hours. "Best out of five, okay? If I win, you owe me a Butterbeer next Hogesmeade weekend. Or vice-versa."

He grins. "Deal." Lily takes the Quaffle and soars it into the right hoop. Lysander stretches his fingers, but they graze over them.

"Yes!" Lily shouts in victory, diving for the Quaffle. After five minutes, they're at two points each.

"Next point wins!" Lysander calls. Lily grips the Quaffle tight, and sees Lysander twitch to the right. Without a second though, she throws it with all her might into the left hoop. Lysander and Lily watch as it goes right through.

"I win!" Lily cries, throwing her hands into the air. She dismounts, and runs towards Lysander.

"It was a good one, too," congratulates Lysander. He gives her a hug, and they put their equipment back in the storage house.

They laugh and joke all the way to the castle, broomsticks in hand. Lily feels better than she has in weeks.

The two of them bid each other goodnight, and Lily makes her way to the dungeons, Lysander turning in the direction of the Ravenclaw dormitories.

She's still smiling as she walks into the common room. It's deserted except for a blonde boy standing at the window.

Lorcan turns around. "Why were you out so late?"

Lily narrows her eyebrows, confused. "I was at the Quidditch pitch." She gestures to the window, where the pitch is in clear view.

"I know that," Lorcan says. "How come you were there so late?"

Knots form in her stomach, and she becomes annoyed. "Because I _wanted _to be there," Lily says. "You and Lucy were out all day, anyways. Why do you care?"

H sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Fine. If you want to be out playing Quidditch with Lysander 'til ten o'clock, whatever. Have a good sleep." With that, he makes his way up to the boys dormitories, leaving Lily there.

She stands there, shell-shocked. Slowly, she makes her way to her bed, wishing nothing more to be under her covers.

Once she's there, she lets loose, angry at Lorcan and Lucy, for even thinking for a split second that dreams and happilyeverafters exists, like Lucy thinks. Her night is ruined by Lorcan, his cold persona and distance. She finally falls asleep, tears drying on her face.

* * *

Walking aimlessly around Hogemeade, Lily ties her hair into a ponytail and heads into the Three Broomsticks. She's a seventh year now, and all her cousins have left Hogwarts except for Hugo and Lucy. It feels empty without them, and sometimes she wishes she could just be finished with Hogwarts. She occasionally feels confined within the castle walls.

Lily pushes the door open, the bell tinkling as she walks through. She sits herself on a bar stool. On the wooden table, there's a tiny engraving.

_L+L= best friends for always._

She feels a pang in her stomach, remembering three years ago when Lorcan and her engraved that with the tip of their wands. She misses him a lot, and wishes the falling out they had a year ago had never happened. That fateful Saturday had had a huge affect on their friendship, and Lily wishes it had never happened.

Hugo, Lucy and Lorcan walk by, and Lily turns her head. She doesn't want Hugo coming in her to comfort her right now. Hugo's walking in the middle of them.

The door opens and the bell tinkles again. Lysander walks through the door, and waves at her. She motions him over and he grabs a stool to sit beside her.

"If I'm right," he says, looking at her, "I owe you a Butterbeer."

She laughs, remembering that bet, the same bet that occurred on the day of her and Lorcan's falling out. "You do."

He motions the bartender for two Butterbeers. Once they have their drinks, Lysander switches the conversation to heavier matters.

"You haven't been spending a lot of time with my brother these days," he says, sipping his drink.

Lily sighs, and sips her Butterbeer to delay the answer. Figuring it can't hurt, she says, "Yeah, I know. We kinda got into a fight."

"About what? If you don't mind me asking."

Realizing she doesn't mind at all, she tells him the story. He raises his eyebrows, shocked. "I'm sorry, Lily. Are you sure it wasn't my fault?"

After assuring him that it most definitely wasn't his fault, he asks her a question that's more of a statement.

"You love him." Her cheeks are red, and Lily knows that there's no avoiding the truth. Lysander has already figured it out, and she's just a hopeless girl who fell in love with her ex-best friend.

Lily just nods her head. Lysander rests his hand on her back.

"Hey, Ly?"

"Mm?"

"Have-have Lucy and Lorcan broken up?

She hears him inhale sharply, but keeps her gaze steadily on the floor. "Well, it wasn't exactly official. It was barely a year."

Surprisingly, the news doesn't make her feel better. If he dumped Lucy, maybe he'd do the same to her. And he seems used, now, by her one-year-younger cousin. Her thoughts and feelings are all jumbled up, and honestly, she's just plain confused. Lorcan still doesn't even talk to her, even if Lucy and him are over.

"I have an idea," he says. "Come with me."

They leave their half-full drinks on the bar table, and walk out of the Three Broomsticks. Lily doesn't really concentrate on where they're going, and clings to Lysander's arm for guidance.

"Here we are," he says. He opens the door to Madame Pudifoot's, and Lily laughs.

"What are we going here?"

"Well, when girls break up with their boyfriends or whatever, they either eat or buy clothes. Even if you and Lorcan didn't break up, cause you weren't going out in the first place, I think this counts. And I thought you might like something to wear over a bar of Honeydukes."

She wraps him in a hug. "Thank you, Ly."

He smiles. "No big deal. Now, go pick out a pair of robes."

They spend the afternoon laughing and talking, Lily trying on numerous robes and dresses. Some of them are uglier than ugly, and the two of them have fun laughing over the outrageous picks.

They have some more profound talks, too, and Lysander admits to her about his _slight _crush on a sixth year Hufflepuff named Tina. Lily squeals when she hears, and tells him to ask Hugo to introduce the two. Lysander shakily makes no promises.

'C'mon, Ly, you should! It would be great! Maybe she likes you back," she calls from the dressing room.

"I don't know, Lil," he says. "I might, but- wow!" He stops midsentence as Lily walks through the door.

She blushes. "You like this one?"

He nods his head, and she moves into the mirror to get a better view. The dress is for special occasions, she can tell that much. It's deep purple in colour, and hugs her around the waist, falling just below her knees.

She bites her lip and asks him again. "You like it?"

"I do," Lysander grins. "It's the one!"

She frowns. "Where am I going to wear this, though?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. But with all of your cousins, one of them is bound to have a wedding sometime."

Lily laughs and agrees, and quickly changes out of the dress. Lysander insists on paying, and Lily's glad the dress was on sale for seven Galleons, even if both their families are fairly well-off.

She can't stop thanking him as they make their way back to the castle. They spot Tina on the way, and she nudges him in the ribs and laughs. He blushes and pokes her back.

At dinner, she goes to visit him at the Ravenclaw table. Most of his friends know her, and they have a good time.

Lily sneaks a peek at the Slytherin table, expecting to see Lucy there, but she's surprisingly not. Lorcan catches her eye from the Slytherin table, and her stomach swoops. Quickly, she looks away.

Later, she moves onto the Hufflepuff table to see Hugo, who wraps her in a hug. "I haven't seen you very much this week," he says.

Lily smiles. "I think you're coming over Easter weekend. Which is good, 'cause I miss you."

"Same," says Hugo. They make easy conversation for awhile, and she says hi his to his friends. He introduces her to Tina, a pretty girl with dark blonde hair and an easy laugh, and she makes a mental note to tell Lysander she approves.

She moves over to sit with Lucy, who's been acting kind of distant lately. They laugh and talk, and Lily feels a bridge being built over the gap.

Lily makes sure to get to the common room before Lorcan, because last time, her day had been ruined by him.

She wasn't going to let him ruin _two _of her best days. One was enough.

* * *

The sun's shining bright, and the summer air is thick with family and friendship. Everyone's on the dance floor, the dresses and robes swirling together to make a rainbow of colour. The bride and groom, Louis and Stella, are positively beaming, and Lily's happy for her cousin and new cousin-in-law.

She's the only one sitting off to the side. She people-watches for awhile, as Fred, James and Dom relish in their moments together as kids again, as Al, Rose and Scorpius laugh and joke. A slow song comes on, and Lily watches as people couple off, her mother and father, her uncles and aunts. Scorpius breaks away from his friends to ask Dominique to dance with him, and Teddy and Victoire sway together to the music.

Lily sighs and plays with the last bit of her cake on her plate. Lysander looks at her over the shoulder of Tina, and gives her a small smile, which she returns.

She scans the floor, expecting to see Lorcan and Lucy together. No matter how badly she convinces herself she'll be able to stomach it, she knows she doesn't really want to see them together. However, she keeps her gaze towards the dance floor.

Finally, Lily spots Lorcan. But he's not dancing in the arms of Lucy; he's walking towards her. Her heart rate moves into to overtime.

"Do you mind taking a walk with me?" Lorcan asks. Lily's walls start to crumble, but she reminds herself of the heartbreak she went through and immediately replaces them. "Sure."

They walk silently away from the wedding, and down the hill. Lorcan leads her over the concave wooden bridge that's built over a river. The bridge takes them in a patch of property surrounded by trees, with an oh-so-familiar lake in the middle.

Lily smoothes her deep purple dress and positions herself on a big rock. Sliding her high heels off, she places them beside her.

"So," she says, turning to Lorcan. "What is it?"

He takes a deep breath. "Well, see, the thing is- I didn't really like- I'm not sure how to put this-". Frustrated, he runs his hands through his hair and starts over.

"I'm really sorry, Lily. For that night."

Her breath catches, and she silently wills him to go on. The gentle hum of the lake as it moves forward in tiny waves is relaxing.

"I never should have said what I said. I guess I was just- kinda jealous, I guess, that you spent the whole night with my brother."

Lily crinkles her nose, confused. "Are you serious? You spent the whole day with my cousin! What was I supposed to do? Wait on top of the Astronomy Tower for you? And you two became an item that night!" She almost blushes, remembering how she kinda almost did wait at the top of the tower for him.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that. That's a Lucy thing to do."

"Did you, you know, love her?"

Lorcan raises his eyebrows. "No, no, no. I love her the same way Louis or James loves her. Always did, always will." He laughs for a second, and then it dies in his throat.

Lorcan wrings his hands together, and rests them on the rock beside her. He hops up onto to it, and Lily scoots over to make room for him.

"Anyways, what I'm trying to get across here, is that I-I think I'm sort of in love with you."

Lily pulls back in shock, her heart speeding up again and butterflies inviting more friends to join them in her stomach. Lorcan leans forward and presses his lips to hers.

He tastes like the lake, and the wedding dessert, and _Lorcan _all wrapped into one, and she swears nothing has ever tastes so good.

He pulls back first, and with her arms still around his neck, _she knows._

She knows that dreams aren't always confined in a bubble filled with shimmer and sparkle. Those are Lucy's dreams.

Her dreams aren't perfect, or fairytales. They're the ones she has to work for, and maybe experience a little bit of pain before she gets to them, but in the end she comes out the other end a stronger person.

Lily's a dreamer, too. She's dreamed of this for over half her life. But she doesn't believe in sugar-coated bubble-dreams.

She'll save those for her cousin Lucy.

* * *

**a/n: **The characterization of Lucy belongs to PrincessPearl. This canon is loosely based on _A World for Dreamers _, and Narnia crossover featuring the Lucy in the story. If you want more of this dreamer!Lucy, check it out! It's amazing!

As always, pleaseplease don't favourite without reviewing! Thank you!


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